File disappeared off desktop - cannot find or recover


  1. Posts : 12
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro / 10.0.19044 Build 19044
       #1

    File disappeared off desktop - cannot find or recover


    Hi,

    I was transferring all my photos on my phone to a folder on my desktop, named 'Photoa'. A couple of seconds after the last photo was copied over I watched the folder suddenly disappear from the desktop. I was not performing any action at the time.

    A search of the computer has failed to find it, a check of the recycle bin turned up empty and I also attempted to use 'Recurva', which didn't find a single photo (about 400 or so were copied to the missing file).

    The only clues are when I search for 'Photoa' on the computer, which gives:

    A broken shortcut at "C:\Users\Daniel\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\Photoa"

    A broken internet shortcut at "file:///D:/User%2520Data/Desktop/Photoa"

    I'm not sure where to start, I am quite desperate to get the folder back as I cut/pasted my pictures - I do have a backup but this problem happened seconds after transferring!

    I didn't notice any sudden lag when the folder disappeared so I like to think that the photos haven't been erased.

    Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 569
    Windows 10 Pro/Windows 7 Ultimate
       #2

    The Phone Companion has been working for me, it sets it up so that when you connect your Phone to your PC, it automatically copies all of your images into OneDrive. That's probably where your photos went. It's cloud storage.

    It's possible they may have gone into DropBox, Mega, ir any other cloud service. All of those services vie for the right to be the only service that handles your cloud content. I shut them all off except for OneDrive, which is Native to Windows 10, and as such it does not add extra resource hogging services.

    Check your OneDrive folder under "Pictures" and "Camera Uploads" - There should be a number of dated folders in there.

    File disappeared off desktop - cannot find or recover-onedrivephodos.png
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 12
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro / 10.0.19044 Build 19044
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Hi, thanks for the reply.

    Afraid that isn't it, I don't have a Pictures or Camera Uploads folder on my OneDrive. I don't use any of the other cloud services
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 569
    Windows 10 Pro/Windows 7 Ultimate
       #4

    If it's an iPhone it may have synced it to iCloud Drive. It looked like it was copying to a Temp folder.

    IN that same area, there is a folder called

    C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\CameraRoll.library-ms

    Have you checked in there? Nothing would have copied to the recents folder.

    You should set up Phone Companion for your specific Device, it works well, I use it with 4 Apple Devices and 1 Galaxy Tablet. I set it up to always upload it to my Onedrive, OneDrive sets up the Pictures/CameraUploads location on first use.

    When it works right, it copies all of your most recent pics to the location you choose automatically.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 276
    Windows 10 Insider Program, Linux Mint 19, Arcolinux, MX-17
       #5

    Danni111111 said:
    Hi, thanks for the reply.

    Afraid that isn't it, I don't have a Pictures or Camera Uploads folder on my OneDrive. I don't use any of the other cloud services
    Download and install Everything Search Engine.
    http://www.voidtools.com

    Rich
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 134,174
    Windows 11 Pro (x64) 23H2 Build 22631.3296
       #6

    Glad I'm not the only one who uses Everything....
      My Computers


 

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